Gasoline economizer valve



y 1959 F. s. ROBERTS GASOLINE ECONOMIZER VALVE Filed March 25, 1957 I N V EN TOR. FREDERICK SROBERTS BY WW ATTORNEY Wig W. A

United States The invention, in general, relates" to the internal combustion engine art and more particularly relates to an automatically operable valve for supplying additional and predetermined amounts of air for admixture with fuel introduced into the combustion'chambers of an internal combustion engine.-

Heretofor'e in the art, there have been devised a number of different types of air-supplying means to augment the proportion of air to fuel vapor in mixtures of combustible charges for internal combustion engines. Some of these prior devices are of complex and costly construction, and others do not fulfil the intended purpose either because they do not compensate for the variations in the rpm. of the engine which involves variations in suction between the intake manifold and the engine, or because they are incapable of adjustment to accommodate for variations in: the compression evolved in the combustion chambers of different engines. The present invention is directed to' the provision of an improved valve of this generaltype and for this specific purpose which obviates the disadvantages of prior valves and which is highly effective and can be manufactured at a relatively low cost.

A primary object of my invention is to provide an improved gasoline economizer valve for adaptation to an internal combustion engine of a driven vehicle which affords an optimum supply of additional air under all road conditions and speeds of a driven vehicle for admixture with the combustible fuel delivered to the combustion chambers of the engine whereby fuel is saved and harmful deposits of the products of fuel combustion are materially reduced.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide an improved gasoline economizer valve of the indicated nature which is additionally characterized by its capability of simple adjustment to afford the same highly effective results regardless of the compression ratio of any given internal combustion engine.

A still further object of my present invention is to provide animproved gasoline economizer valve of the aforementioned character which reduces the tendency of uneven detonations of combustible charges, or effects a smoothing out of combustion to afford smooth-running engines especially at higher speeds.

Other objects of tlhe invention, together with some of the advantageous features thereof, will appear from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that I am not to be limited to the precise embodiments shown, nor to the precise arrangement of the various parts thereof, as my invention, as defined by the appended claims, can be embodied in a plurality and variety of forms.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. l is a fragmentary side elevational view of an internal combustion engine casing, carburetor and intake and exhaust manifolds, showing a preferred embodiment of my invention installed in operative position.

" aterlt Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3' is a fragmentary development of the wall of the valve showing the cylinder ports.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the invention, this View showing the interior valve parts.

Fig. 5 is a sectional View taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

In its preferred form, the improved gasoline economizer valve of my invention preferably comprises a tubular body defining a cylinder; said cylinder having a plurality of ports through one section of said body for establishing communication between the interior of said cylinder and the atmosphere exteriorly thereof, a piston slidably mounted within said cylinder for covering and uncovering said ports, together with means establishing communication between the inter'ior of said cylinder and an intake manifold of an internal combustion engine, and a collar adjustably positioned on the exterior of said body at said one section thereof for covering and uncovering some of said ports in said cylinder to limit or to increase the quantity of additional air admitted to said cylinder and to the engine intake manifold.

As particularly shown in Figs. 2 and 4 of the annexed drawings, I provide a hollow tubular body 11 which may be manufactured of brass, or of aluminum, or of any other suitable lightweight metal and which defines a cylinder 12 in which a piston 13 is slidably mounted; the piston likewise being fashioned from aluminum, brass or any other suitable light-weight metal. Tubular body 11 is reduced adjacent one terminal end thereof and is conveniently shaped to provide a series of lands 14 thereon, preferably six in number circumferentially about the exterior of the body 11 so that a hexagonal wrench or other tool may be applied thereto for tightening the body in operative position. At such one terminal end, the exterior of the body 11 is threaded, as at 15, so that the body may threadedly engage the interior threads, not shown, of a nipple 16 which is fitted, in turn, to an elbow 17 that is secured to the intake manifold 18 of an internal combustion engine 19; such connections or equivalent connections establishing communication between the interior or cylinder 12 of tubular body 11 and the intake manifold 18 of the engine, see Fig. l of the drawings. The interior wall of the cylinder 12 is provided with an annular shoulder 21 to define an annular interior recess for the reception of a sealing ring 22, which may comprise a rubber washer, against which one end of the piston 13 seats when the engine is at rest or is idling. A compres sion spring 23 is provided within the cylinder 12 for normally urging piston 13 against its seat, such compression spring abutting at its one end against the piston 13 and at its other end against the inner surface of a removable end plug 24 which conveniently is formed with a threaded shank for threaded engagement with the end of the tubular body 11; the spring 23 thus being confined between the piston 13 and the plug 24 within the cylinder.

In accordance with my present invention, a section 26 of the tubular body 11, preferably adjacent to the end thereof which is connected to the nipple 16, is exteriorly threaded for the reception of an internally threaded collar 27 which conveniently is formed with a knurled exterior surface so that the same may be readily turned and thus moved to and fro on the threaded section 26 of the body. At this section of the tubular body, I provide a series of cylinder ports, designated generally by the reference numeral 28, which may be arranged in any desired pattern circumferentially as well as longitudinally of the tubular body, as typlfied 1n the development of that section of the cylinder wall in Fig. 3 of the annexed drawings. The

ports 28 establish communication between the exterior atmosphere and the interior of the cylinder 12 when the piston 13 is moved away from its seat consisting of the rubber Washer 22 and when the collar 27 has been moved to uncover some of such ports 28. The sliding or moving of the piston 13 from its seat 22 also establishes communication between the exterior atmosphere and the cylinder 12 through ports 28 as Well as the intake manifold of the engine through the passage 29 defined in the body 11 by the reduced end thereof and by annular shoulder 21, and through nipple 16 and elbow 17, thus to admit additional air into the intake manifold 18 of the engine 19 for admixture with the combustible fuel introduced from the carburetor 31 of the engine. Due to the adjustability of the position of collar 27 on the tubular body 11, the quantity of additional air supplied to the intake manifold through ports 28 can be definitely regulated by the covering or uncovering of additional ports 28 and this is a partioularly advantageous feature for accommodating the valve of my invention for different and often high com pression ratios of combustion chambers in the different types of automotive engines currently being employed.

The operation of the improved valve is made automatic or responsive to the movement of the accelerator pedal 32 of an automotive vehicle which is propelled by an in ternal combustion engine on which the gas economizer valve of my invention is installed. To this end I conveniently provide a length of pull-wire 33 which passes through the end plug 24 of the tubular body 11 and which is anchored at its one end to the piston 13 by means of an Allen screw 34 and connected at its other end to the accelerator pedal 32. When the accelerator pedal is depressed, the wire 33 is pulled towards the operator of the vehicle to unseat the piston 13, and the increased depression of the accelerator pedal causes the piston 13 to uncover more and more ports 28 allowing air from the exterior of body 11 to enter the combustion chambers of the engine cylinders if the adjustable collar 27 is so positioned to establish communication between the outside atmosphere and the cylinder 12. With the vehicle accelerator pedal depressed and piston 13 moved away from its seat, the amount of the supplied additional air entering the combustion chambers of the engine depends, of course, upon the number of ports 28 uncovered by the adjusting collar 27 which regulates the amount of the ad mitted additional air. It is to be noted that the end plug 24 preferably is formed with a flaring guide orifice 36 which allows for the operation of the pull-wire 33 at approximately 90" to the axis of the cylinder 12, if necessary.

While not essential, I preferably provide an air strainer or filter on the present improvement which may consist of a sleeve 37 of cheesecloth saturated With oil or a Wire mesh sleeve; such sleeve 37 conveniently being slipped over the section 26 of tubular body 11 and lashed or otherwise secured in position on the body.

l have had highly etfective results in the use of my gas economizer valve with motors of high compression ratio, the valve not only reducing the consumption of gasoline in that I have obtained an increase in the number of miles per gallon of gasoline consumed, but I have also found that the motor is smoother running at higher speeds, and higher altitudes and the fouling of spark plugs as well as the amount of carbon deposits in the cylinders has been appreciably reduced.

It is to be understood that the appended claims are to be accorded a range of equivalents commensurate in scope with the advance made over the prior art.

I claim:

1. A gas economizer valve comprising a hollow tubular body having an open end and defining a cylinder, a threaded end section on said body, a threaded nipple on said end section of said body; said nipple being adapted to be connected to the intake manifold of an engine for conducting regulated amounts of air emitted from the open end of said body to the intake manifold, a threaded section on said cylinder having a plurality of ports therein opening to the atmosphere, a collar threadedly engaging said threaded section; said collar being adapted to be moved to and set in any selected one of a plurality of different positions to uncover and cover some of said ports, and a piston movably mounted in said cylinder for covering and uncovering some of said ports whereby either one, two or more ports may communicate with the atmosphere depending upon the set position of said collar and variable amounts of air may be emitted from the open end of said body.

2. In a gas economizer valve, a hollow tubular body having an open end, an interior annular shoulder on said body adjacent to said open end, a sealing ring seated on said shoulder, an element movably mounted in said body, a spring confined within said body and engaging said element normally to hold said element against said ring, a threaded section on said body; said section having a plurality of ports therein opening to the atmosphere, and means for moving said element away from said ring against the influence of said spring to uncover some of said ports and to establish communication between the atmosphere through said ports and the open end of said body.

3. In a valve as defined in claim 2, and means movably mounted on said threaded section of said body for variably covering and uncovering a number of said ports and thereby regulating the volume of air emitted from the open end of said body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,363,404 Gaillard Dec. 28, 1920 1,901,191 Rawers Mar. 14, 1933 2,153,350 Stimac Apr. 4, 1939 

